Economy in Brief: 2016

The value of construction put-in-place fell 0.4% (-0.2% y/y) during September following a 0.5% August dip, revised from -0.7%. The value of construction spending has been moving sideways since the middle of last year, following strong [...]

Factory sector activity continued to improve during October. The ISM composite index of factory sector activity rose to 51.9 from an unrevised 51.5 in September. It was the seventh month this year when the index was above break-even. [...]

Asia area PMIs mostly improved in October as Indonesia and Vietnam were exceptions. The U.K., a Western nation with a finalized PMI, showed a drop off in October. The US (ISM) manufacturing PMI also was announced for October and it [...]

Natural gas prices declined to the lowest level since August. At $2.69 per mmbtu last week, prices have fallen from $3.15 just two weeks ago, and equaled the lowest level since mid-August. They remained up, however, by nearly one- [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that its general activity index of factory sector activity in Texas remained slightly negative in October. The figure at -1.5, however, was improved versus the low of -34.6 in January. The [...]

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer Index fell to 50.6 during October following an unrevised increase to 54.2 during September. The latest was the lowest level since May. The figure compared to expectations for 53.8 in [...]

German retail sales (excluding autos) fell off sharply in September as the largest drop in two years was logged. This came on the same day when EMU-area GDP growth was reported to have steadied on the quarter and amid a rise in [...]

Consumer spending recovered last month following a brief pullback. Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.5% (3.7% y/y) after a 0.1% dip during August. The gain matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]